


Too Close

by theSyndra



Category: Pokemon GO
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:55:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7595299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSyndra/pseuds/theSyndra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>If Blanche had to describe Candela in four words she would say: arrogant, smug, dumb, and fucking-overly-energetic-reckless-idiot. That is, if she ever had to describe Candela to anyone outside of her own mind. In her head, the four words she's most accustomed to using are 'love of my life' but she's already made a promise to herself, a tape recording, and written seven journal entries vowing that she'll never openly admit that.</em><br/> <br/> </p><p>Or, the fic where Candela and Blanche are secretly obsessed with each other, but neither one knows how to voice that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Close

**Author's Note:**

> Partially inspired by [this](http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/16/12205440/pokemon-go-crowds-central-park). And the fact that everyone is obsessed with Vaporeon. Also inspired by various memes. Just because.

If Blanche had to describe Candela in four words she would say: arrogant, smug, dumb, and fucking-overly-energetic-reckless-idiot. That is, if she ever had to describe Candela to anyone outside of her own mind. In her head, the four words she's most accustomed to using are ' _love of my life_ ' but she's already made a promise to herself, a tape recording, and written seven journal entries vowing that she'll never openly admit that.

Candela _is_ the enemy. So to speak.

At least, they're supposed to be rivals since Candela's the leader of Team Valor, and Blanche is over Team Mystic. They have completely different strategies for discovering and investigating Pokemon and their personalities don't necessarily mesh well. The rivalry might seem quite ridiculous on the surface, but backers and funders only want to support teams that prove successful in actually discovering and figuring out Pokemon — and Blanche could never keep her lab open without the rich benefactors funding her research.

So, every time Candela leaves town to take on another gym, Blanche's heart aches for more than the usual reasons. Candela may be smug and arrogant and dumb, but she's one of the best Pokemon trainers and explorers in the world. Blanche can't very well love the enemy if it means accepting the end of her career, so she'll have to settle for her best attempt at hate.

"Saying I dislike you would be me being nice," she says to Candela, aiming for hate, but barely landing on disinterested. Candela doesn't usually drop by her lab unless it's to taunt her so, needless to say, it has become almost a weekly occurrence. "Can you just piss off already? Some of us have actual useful work to do."

"That's what I'm here for. I need your help," Candela says calmly. Too calm for Blanche's liking; it's hard to be contentious when Candela seems like she's almost being nice. "You hear about the raid on the forest?"

"Yeah, some idiot thought he spotted a Vaporeon, but that's highly unlikely for this region. Not to mention — "

"I caught it," Candela cuts in, holding up a Pokeball. "I'd give it to the idiots running the labs for Team Valor, but well, they're idiots."

Blanche glances up from the documentation she's been pretending to go over. "I'm not putting up with your shit today, Candela. It's been a rough week as it is — "

"Seriously," she says, and then she releases an actual fucking Vaporeon from the Pokeball.

Rare Pokemon are the sort of thing that research dreams are made of and it _would_ be Candela who actually gets one. She's legitimately going to be the end of Blanche's career.

"Yeah, whatever, so you came to show it off. I don't care," Blanche says, not even falling on disinterested this time, which makes her hate her dumb voice and her feelings and everything in this world. "Can you leave already?"

"No, I came here so you could look at it. So, can you somehow pull the stick out your ass and do me a solid?"

Now Blanche is just confused. "How does it help _you_ if new information on Vaporeon comes from _my_ lab?"

Candela rolls her eyes, and that makes Blanche feel oddly comforted. This is the Candela she's used to. "Because _I_ discovered it, you nerd. Documentation on rare Pokemon is shit as it is, so I didn't want to leave it in the hands of people less qualified to handle it. This way we both win from this, and then I'll be on my way again. Trust me, I didn't want to _have_ to ask you."

Blanche wants to point out that the researchers over the Valor labs aren't actually complete idiots, and honestly, they would do a fine job with this, but it'd be dumb throwing away this opportunity.

"Alright then, I'll give it a look over."

xx

The Vaporeon isn't the last time that Candela strolls into Blanche's lab with a new Pokemon. Since the team-up proved more successful than either one of them predicted, it sort of becomes a norm.

The only fucked part about the whole deal is that when Blanche's success starts depending on Candela's success, Blanche runs out of excuses for denying how much she's secretly into Candela. It can't ruin her career anymore, so it just ruins her life because she's around Candela more often and she can't say shit about shit without things getting too weird.

Things get especially fucked when backers start wanting Candela and Blanche to be seen together publicly to help end some of the more violent rivalries between the trainers supporting Valor and Mystic. They have to bring along Spark from Team Instinct because Instinct has basically been tanking for a while now, but they're so nice that no one has the heart to pull support.

So, Blanche ends up drunk at a fancy club with Spark, ordering drinks by the bottle since the people that fund them are covering the tab. Candela must have been too much of a fucking shitter to show up, so Blanche makes up for her anger in the sheer volume of alcohol she consumes.

"I wonder how many shots I could actually take during the chorus of the song," Spark says as _Shots_ plays through the club speakers, leaning in his chair and slurring half the words. "Bet I could get properly fucked up."

"You're already properly fucked up," Blanche points out, trying to go over something smart in her mind to check her own intoxication level but only thinking about how pouty and kissable Candela's lips are. "I don't think you wanna drink anymore, because that's bad."

Spark leans forward and smiles. His funding is never getting fucking pulled; Blanche is convinced and she's only spent an hour with him.

"Is that your scientific opinion, or are you still being uptight?" When Blanche doesn't respond fast enough Spark jumps up and returns four minutes later with two pints of beer. "Just clear your head with this, and then we'll do more shots, yeah? I normally can't even afford one so we're not pissing this away by being prunes."

"Fine then," Blanche says, reluctantly taking the pint from Spark's hands. Her slight annoyance is starting to turn into curiosity. She's never quite gotten to the bottom of why Instinct seems to be tanking so fast. "So why's your team going downhill?"

"It all started when I referred to Beedrill as Big Dick Bee," he says easily. Blanche nearly snorts Budweiser up her nose.

"That's just unacceptable. It doesn't even have a — " she starts laughing before she can even get the sentence out. "Seriously though, you all seem like good people."

"We're not interested in categorizing all the Pokemon or catching them all, y'know? We'd be satisfied with four-hundred Rattatas and love them all. It's just not a very good way to catch attention in this ' _gotta-catch-em-all_ ' market."

"That's noble I suppose."

Spark laughs it off. "So what's the deal with you and Candela. Last I heard you hated each other, and then you're like, power-duo."

"I don't know," Blanche admits. "I feel like I'm going to be cut off soon and it'll just be Valor and Instinct left. Like how hard is it to do what I do?" It's a bit of a lie, she knows it. She's objectively the best at what she does, but for some reason drinking seems to be causing her a massive spike in social dampening.

Still, Candela's the fucking best at training and catching Pokemon and Blanche has to hear about it every second of every day. She could either be paranoid about her job or just obsessed with her semi-competition.

"You think she's better than you?" Spark asks, not even shit talking, but genuinely curious.

"I'm not sure," Blanche says, honestly. "We both have our individual strengths, like we're both really good at the things we do. I think that's why we make a great team."

"Then what are you scared for?"

"Because I can't hide I want to sex her," Blanche says, too drunk to realize she's breaking every promise she's made to herself. "It's getting out of — why are you laughing so hard? It's fucking valid, have you even _seen_ her?"

Spark is nearly snorting his pint up his nose and pointing right at Blanche, or rather… behind her? "She's standing right next to you," he manages to say between giggles.

"No," Blanche says, turning as slow as possible, as if taking her time will somehow make Candela disappear.

"I see you took the stick out your ass to make room for me," Candela announces, flopping down on the leather couch next to Blanche. She's as pissed as both Spark and Blanche combined, and it's suddenly clear why she's been missing for nearly an hour. "Thought I'd grace you losers with my presence."

"It's not wanted," Blanche says, sticking her face in her pint to hide her blushing. This is just great.

"I'm sorry," Candela says, mocking affection, "how rude of me. Would you rather I sit next to you, or on your face?"

"That's inappropriate!" Blanche shouts, and Spark actually falls off his chair.

"I'm already liking this friendship," he slurs, barely managing to keep half his pint in its cup and off the floor.

Blanche already hates it. She really really hates it.

"I'm drunk, so it doesn't even count," she says, but she's pretty sure Candela isn't even listening because she hooks her chin over Blanche's shoulder and just leans on her the rest of the night.

All the while, continuing to shit-talk Blanche and make _inappropriate_ jokes at her expense.

 

It even continues all the way back to Blanche's house, when she's the only one sober enough to put her address into the Uber, and ends up having to let the other two sleep over.

xx

When she wakes up the next morning Spark is curled in a ball at the foot of her bed and Candela is raiding her fridge. She doesn't know how to properly address the train wreck that was last night, so she decides to just do it head on.

"Hey," she says, cautiously approaching Candela.

She's braced for the verbal assault she's destined to endure, but instead Candela turns and says, "You have anything for a hangover? Or any food other than yogurt? My head's fucking killing me and I can't remember shit from last night." She smiles a bit and shrugs. "Must have been fun then, I suppose."

"Yeah loads. You managed to be even more of an asshole."

"Aw, come off it already. What'd I do? Insult your ponytail this time? Can you just loosen up a bit."

Blanche wants to argue, but that'd involve eventually reminding Candela what actually happened, and she doesn't intend on doing that. "Well — " she starts and then she's cut off by obnoxious yawning coming from behind her.

"How are the love birds?" Spark says, and Blanche whips around so fast that her ponytail slaps her cheek.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothing," Spark says innocently. "Figured after last night you two would — "

"Hee _eey_ ," Blanche interrupts, "I -- uh, I should really be leaving, have to get into the lab soon. So you two are gonna need to be off, or out of my house at least. You should be anywhere but here, really."

"It's Sunday," Candela points out. "Isn't it like universal rest day or something?"

"I'm confused," Spark continues, like the previous topic hasn't been roughly blasted off of the fucking table. "Is this not happening because I sort of shipped you two together really hard after that admission."

"What admission? What does _shipped_ mean?" Candela asks.

And then Blanche actually blows a metaphorical gasket. "You two really just don't get when you're overstaying your welcome, do you?" She says harsh enough to make even herself flinch. She doesn't want to be mean, she really doesn't want to be mean, but she's scared and slightly embarrassed, and panicking. "I said get out, so just. Just fucking leave, okay?"

There's a long silence between them, which mostly ends in Spark being sad and Candela seriously confused, but they both gather their shit and leave the house without saying anything else. This situation only serves to confirm that Blanche is dumb and she has a secret and she wants to live in misery forever. But, if she convinces herself enough and stays strong, it'll all seem worth it.

Maybe.

xx

She's as strong as she can hope to be, considering the circumstances, but her eventual breakdown comes in two parts. The first part is Candela ignoring her for nearly two weeks, and the second part is discovering Candela on the bench outside her building when she's heading home from work. Blanche is too weak to ignore her, especially after the long as shit silent treatment, so she beelines for her instead.

"Didn't think you were interested in seeing me again," she starts with, sitting on the bench next to Candela.

Candela doesn't bother looking at her, which seems fair. "Who says I'm here for you?"

"You don't know anyone in the lab, and we're too out of the way for you to be here just for this bench."

"You're a real bitch to me, y'know?" Candela says. "At first I was upset about it — which I have the right to be, by the way — but I finally got Spark to break about what your _admission_ was at the club."

It was only a matter of time, anyway. "If it means anything, I meant it," Blanche says, her heart nearly in her throat. She's been in love, or whatever, with Candela for so long now, that the only healthy path is admitting it. "So, I like you. Big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal," Candela says, and then, surprisingly, adds, "It is to me, at least. I don't spend my time driving out of my way to chat up cute ladies for nothing."

" _Ladies?_ "

"Lady. Fine. Don't be nitpicky, I'm opening up here, alright?"

Blanche ducks her head. "Sorry, then. Continue?"

"Yeah, anyway," Candela says, shifting to look Blanche in the eyes, "I put myself on the line for a team-up and everything. I shared all my Pokemon, even the super rare ones, and no matter what I do you just give me shit for it."

"You give me shit too, though," Blanche defends. "Let's be fair here."

"Yeah, I give you shit because you take yourself too seriously, but I'm not the one who says 'i hate you' every other sentence."

" _You_ take yourself too seriously," Blanche blurts, before she catches on that she's subconsciously picking a fight. "Shit, sorry. I'm just -- despite popular opinion of me, I can be a little dumb sometimes."

"No, it's -- eh,  was going to say it's me, but I don't want us to spiral into that circle of blaming ourselves. Let's just agree it's you then?" she asks, which would be incredibly offensive, if she wasn't smiling in that way that makes Blanche's knees feel like gloop.

Thank the heavens for benches.

"I had reason to keep a secret, y'know? And the rivalry. I had my career to worry about, like, do you know how much it is to fund a full lab, and then -- "

She's stopped by Candela reaching forward and running her thumb across her lips, which she would normally think is slightly unsanitary, but right not it just feels right and perfect and she's entirely too focused on Candela's lips leaning in closer to her. So Blanche does the only thing she knows how to do -- she turns away and ruins the moment.

"I really like you, alright? It's not just a joke, or -- I don't know. It's serious."

Thankfully Candela knows her well enough to not let her ruin this moment. She reaches up and cups Blanche's chin, turns her head to face her again, and says, "Just kiss me already, haven't you waited long enough?"

Blanche doesn't really know what to say to that, so she leans in and kisses her as earnestly as she knows how. She even makes sure to close her eyes and put real effort into it. By the time they're finished her hand is on Candela's waist and Candela's hand's tangling in her hair, no doubt messing up her ponytail.

"Was it everything you hoped for?" Candela asks, and she's smug about it. Blanche sort of wants to check her Fitbit right now to see if her heart is reaching it's peak or if it just feels like it. "I kinda want to do it again, if you're down?"

It's a little hard to speak at the moment, so Blanche just nods, but before they get the chance Spark is standing in front of them with his mouth hanging open. His shock quickly turns into a grin, and then he puts his hand over his mouth and whispers, "My ship."

And Blanche can't help thinking that she still really hates this new friendship, but she wouldn't give it up for the world.

 

 


End file.
